I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 48
To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure that women seeking
an abortion receive an ultrasound and the opportunity to review the
ultrasound before giving informed consent to receive an abortion.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. B
IGGSof Arizona (for himself, Mr. CRENSHAW, and Mr. BURLISON) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure that
women seeking an abortion receive an ultrasound and
the opportunity to review the ultrasound before giving
informed consent to receive an abortion.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ultrasound Informed 4
Consent Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 1
ACT. 2
The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et 3
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘TITLE XXXIV—INFORMED 5
CONSENT 6
‘‘SEC. 3401. DEFINITIONS. 7
‘‘In this title: 8
‘‘(1) A
BORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 9
the intentional use or prescription of any instru-10
ment, medicine, drug, substance, device, or method 11
to terminate the life of an unborn child, or to termi-12
nate the pregnancy of a woman known to be preg-13
nant, with an intention other than— 14
‘‘(A) to produce a live birth and preserve 15
the life and health of the child after live birth; 16
or 17
‘‘(B) to remove an ectopic pregnancy, or to 18
remove a dead unborn child who died as the re-19
sult of a spontaneous abortion, accidental trau-20
ma, or a criminal assault on the pregnant fe-21
male or her unborn child. 22
‘‘(2) A
BORTION PROVIDER.—The term ‘abortion 23
provider’ means any person legally qualified to per-24
form an abortion under applicable Federal and State 25
laws. 26
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‘‘(3) UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 1
means a member of the species homo sapiens, at any 2
stage of development prior to birth. 3
‘‘(4) U
NEMANCIPATED MINOR .—The term 4
‘unemancipated minor’ means a minor who is sub-5
ject to the control, authority, and supervision of his 6
or her parent or guardian, as determined under 7
State law. 8
‘‘(5) W
OMAN.—The term ‘woman’ means a fe-9
male human being whether or not she has reached 10
the age of majority. 11
‘‘SEC. 3402. REQUIREMENT OF INFORMED CONSENT. 12
‘‘(a) R
EQUIREMENT OF COMPLIANCE BY PRO-13
VIDERS.—Any abortion provider in or affecting interstate 14
or foreign commerce, who knowingly performs any abor-15
tion, shall comply with the requirements of this title. 16
‘‘(b) P
ERFORMANCE AND REVIEW OF 17
U
LTRASOUND.—Prior to a woman giving informed con-18
sent to having any part of an abortion performed, the 19
abortion provider who is to perform the abortion, or an 20
agent under the supervision of the provider, shall— 21
‘‘(1) perform an obstetric ultrasound on the 22
pregnant woman; 23
‘‘(2) provide a simultaneous explanation of 24
what the ultrasound is depicting; 25
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‘‘(3) display the ultrasound images so that the 1
pregnant woman may view them; and 2
‘‘(4) provide a complete medical description of 3
the ultrasound images, which shall include— 4
‘‘(A) the dimensions of the embryo or 5
fetus; 6
‘‘(B) cardiac activity if present and visible; 7
and 8
‘‘(C) the presence of external members and 9
internal organs if present and viewable. 10
‘‘(c) A
BILITY TOTURNEYESAWAY.—Nothing in 11
this section shall be construed to prevent a pregnant 12
woman from turning her eyes away from the ultrasound 13
images required to be displayed and described to her. Nei-14
ther the abortion provider nor the pregnant woman shall 15
be subject to any penalty under this title if the pregnant 16
woman declines to look at the displayed ultrasound im-17
ages. 18
‘‘SEC. 3403. EXCEPTION FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCIES. 19
‘‘(a) E
XCEPTION.—The provisions of section 3402 20
shall not apply to an abortion provider if the abortion is 21
necessary to save the life of a mother whose life is endan-22
gered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical 23
injury, including a life-endangering physical condition 24
caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself. 25
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‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION.—Upon a determination by an 1
abortion provider under subsection (a) that an abortion 2
is necessary to save the life of a mother, such provider 3
shall include in the medical file of the pregnant woman 4
a truthful and accurate certification of the specific medical 5
circumstances that support such determination. 6
‘‘SEC. 3404. PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO COMPLY. 7
‘‘(a) C
IVILPENALTIES.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Attorney General may 9
commence a civil action in Federal court under this 10
section against any abortion provider who knowingly 11
commits an act constituting a violation of this title 12
for a penalty in an amount not to exceed— 13
‘‘(A) $100,000 for each such violation that 14
is adjudicated in the first proceeding against 15
such provider under this title; and 16
‘‘(B) $250,000 for each violation of this 17
title that is adjudicated in a subsequent pro-18
ceeding against such provider under this title. 19
‘‘(2) N
OTIFICATION.—Upon the assessment of 20
a civil penalty under paragraph (1), the Attorney 21
General shall notify the appropriate State medical li-22
censing authority. 23
‘‘(b) P
RIVATERIGHT OFACTION.—A woman upon 24
whom an abortion has been performed in violation of this 25
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title may commence a civil action against the abortion pro-1
vider for any violation of this title for actual and punitive 2
damages. For purposes of the preceding sentence, actual 3
damages are objectively verifiable money damages for all 4
injuries.’’. 5
SEC. 3. PREEMPTION. 6
Nothing in this Act or the amendment made by this 7
Act shall be construed to preempt any provision of State 8
law to the extent that such State law establishes, imple-9
ments, or continues in effect disclosure requirements re-10
garding abortion or penalties for failure to comply with 11
such requirements that are more extensive than those pro-12
vided under the amendment made by this Act. 13
SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 14
If any provision of this Act or the amendment made 15
by this Act, or any application thereof, is found to be un-16
constitutional, the remainder of this Act and the amend-17
ment made by this Act, and any application thereof, shall 18
not be affected by such finding. 19
Æ
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